Author's Note:

This story is set in the same universe as my earlier fanfic, All the King's Horses. Readers may (or may not) remember that in terms of its timeline, All the King's Horses concluded in November 2002, and How Many Miles to Babylon begins just over twelve months later, in December 2003.

Babylon is more Setsuna-focused than its predecessor, though we still get to see plenty of Haruka and Michiru too – and the Starlights! (Who are female full-time here). I have no idea if people are going to go for a Setsuna/Taiki romance, but hey, even Takeuchi herself compared the two in the Materials Collection.

I never actually intended to write anything else set in the King's Horses universe, but when this story began shaping itself in my head I really couldn't resist, and it's been immensely enjoyable to go back to that world and find out how everyone is getting on. How Many Miles to Babylon is perhaps not quite as unremittingly dark and angsty as All the King's Horses, but hopefully readers will still find plenty to like.

Further Note:

I'm going to be publishing this fic simultaneously on Fanfiction and Archive of Our Own, as this latter site will enable readers to have a downloadable version of the story if they want one, which is something a few people have been asking about for some of my other fics. You can find me under the name Dawnlight6 over there.

Chapter One

More strongly than she ever had before, Setsuna sensed that night that the time of her current human form would soon be coming to an end. Perhaps that was why she went home with her; a last defiant gasp against her fate.

The sad shadows in her amethyst eyes reminded Setsuna of long dead worlds and the bones of friends crumbling into dust, and strangely, that was what drew her at first. And then she noticed her hands; the long, elegant fingers that twirled her glass nervously as she sat next to Setsuna on the couch, obviously feeling as out of place at this rollicking party as Setsuna herself did. There was something about those hands. Setsuna imagined them trailing starlight over her dusky skin, speaking to her in a language she'd nearly forgotten – the language of touch, warmth, desire. The language of not being alone.

Finally, she noticed the fineness of her hair, nearly as long as Setsuna's own and bright and gleaming as polished wood. She was wearing it loose, not pulled back in a pony-tail, making a curtain that half-hid her face as she titled her head forward to stare into the swirling depths of her blood-coloured wine. Setsuna shocked herself by reaching out a hand and tucking several of those fine brown strands of hair behind Taiki's ear, so that she could lean in close and send breath whispering wickedly onto her skin.

"Do you want to get out of here?" she asked.

There was a gasp that only she heard. Amethyst eyes collided with hers and Setsuna saw something shift in their depths. Something that, for some reason, Setseuna thought had probably been asleep for a very long time.

Taiki glanced around at the rowdy party in full swing at Usagi's house, at the Inner senshi and the Princess herself and Seiya and Yaten all drunk as sailors and completely oblivious to the low-key proposition in their midst.

She glanced back at Setuna, and surprisingly, she smiled and arched a brow. "All right," she said.

Bare skin against hers. Someone moaning into her mouth, wanting her. Hands and heat and pleasure and poetry – Setsuna hadn't expected that, had never noticed before how melodious Taiki's voice was, how perfectly suited to speaking liquid words that slid sweetly from her tongue in some strange language (Taiki's own?) that Setsuna didn't understand. She felt the meaning though, something beautiful and sad and wondering, and her body shuddered with it as the whispered words flowed down her stomach and those amethyst eyes found hers and didn't look away.

And the strangest and most treacherously dangerous thing of all was to wake the next morning with the arms of another around her and warmth at her back and restful breaths merging with hers in the pale winter dawn.

It can't be, Setsuna reminded herself. This can never be.

She turned in the arms of her alien lover, meaning just to look at her a little in the daylight, but she unintentionally jostled her towards wakefulness so that instead of a face lost in sleep she encountered soft eyes and a softer smile.

"Setsuna," Taiki whispered, brushing a lingering hand over her shoulder and looking at her with an expression Setsuna could hardly describe. Like she'd stumbled across something wonderful she'd never expected to find, and which she had no intention of losing again.

"Taiki." Setsuna was no less shocked by the sound of her own voice, pitched lower than usual and still full of warm, lazy afterglow.

"Can I make you breakfast?" Taiki said it almost shyly, her face redder than it had been at any point the night before.

"Breakfast? Shouldn't I be offering since it's my house?"

"Is that the tradition here? On my world…"

"On your world," Setsuna prompted.

Taiki's colour resembled the red of Mars' mini-skirt. "On my world," she stammered, "if someone asks you to be their lover for the night, and it is…very pleasurable, then offering to make breakfast for that person the next morning is the way of saying it was good."

"So if you didn't offer, you'd be saying I was crap in bed?"

"Well, if it's not the way things are done here, you wouldn't have realised anyway."

Setsuna gave Taiki a crooked half-smile. "I'm not sure that's comforting. But—" She drew her fingers slowly down Taiki's body, making her arch with just the hint of a groan escaping from the back of her throat. "It was very pleasurable for me as well."

This last Setsuna said in a murmur as she took in the sight of Taiki half-helpless already, teeth biting into her lower lip, hips nudging forward hopefully. It would have been easy to send her over the edge again; Setsuna wanted to do it, had to consciously force herself not to.

Moving her hand to a safer location, she frowned and tried to remember if she'd heard Haruka's car come home last night.

Haruka had said she'd be at Usagi's party, but in the end she'd just sent her apologies and not shown up. Those who didn't know her well never would have guessed, but she did have that occasional flaky side to her personality. Not surprising, perhaps, given her wind element, though it was a little strange that Haruka had been willing to leave Usagi unsupervised with the Starlights.

"About breakfast. I'm not sure if Haruka's here," she said after a pause.

Taiki's eyebrows shot up, perhaps both at Setsuna's comment and her sudden change in demeanor. "Does it matter if she is here?"

"No." Setsuna shrugged. "I guess not." She settled further into her pillows, rather liking the idea of being taken care of for once. "I'm not usually hungry first thing in the morning, but if you could make me some tea…"

Haruka entered the kitchen jingling her keys, and got three sentences in before she realised the person she was talking to wasn't actually Setsuna.

"Hi Setsuna. Sorry I wasn't there last night. There was, ah…Stuff I had to take care of."

Finally looking at her housemate properly, Haruka did a double take as she saw not her expected friend but the tall, ruffled Starlight wearing Setsuna's black silk dressing gown and an awkward expression.

"Haruka-san, good morning," Taiki decided to go with, polite and cautious.

A storm began to brew in Haruka's eyes. "You! What are you doing in my house?"

"Well, um, that is…"

"Where's Setsuna? Is she okay? Setsuna!"

Imagining all kinds of dark nebulous scenarios, Haruka pounded upstairs and flung open the door to Setsuna's room, to be greeted by the sight of her friend sitting up in bed clad in a thin sheet that left almost nothing to the imagination.

"Really Haruka," said Setsuna acridly, as Haruka's mouth fell open. "It's called knocking."

"You," Haruka sputtered faintly. "You spent the night – with her?" She pointed at Taiki accusingly, who, ignoring Haruka, slipped past into the bedroom and placed a laden tea tray down by Setsuna.

Setsuna sighed. "Haruka. If you can't be civil, go to work. Go for a drive. Go be somewhere not here."

"What happened to your neck, Haruka-san?" Taiki asked curiously, glancing up from the tea she was pouring. "Those marks look like…" Her eyes widened in shock. "No way! Michiru-san isn't here. Were you – Who were you with last night?"

Taking the tea with murmured thanks, Setsuna said, "Don't worry, Taiki. If Haruka's neck looks like that it means she went to visit Michiru last night. Right?"

She glanced astutely at her housemate, and saw Haruka's cheeks heat. Yes, Setsuna thought. Michiru was probably the one who'd called Haruka. That explained why she wasn't at the party. Michiru was currently away in the third week of a six week long music tour around Japan. Originally Haruka had intended to go with her, but a troublesome monster outbreak had vetoed that plan. Of course, senshi super speed wasn't technically supposed to be used for long distance conjugal visits, but if it made her friends happy Setsuna was willing to overlook the infraction.

Haruka crossed her arms, glowering. "I'm not explaining myself to her. Setsuna – we'll talk later. Bye."

Taiki winced as the front door slammed and they heard Haruka's car roar away a short time later. "I'm sorry," she said worriedly. "Have I caused problems for you?"

"Not particularly. Haruka knows I'm an adult capable of making my own decisions."

"I see. In that case, could I ask…Was this just a one time thing?"

Setsuna studied Taiki, who was studying the dregs in her teacup. Despite how casual she sounded, her body was tense and there was a tremble in her voice that someone listening less carefully probably would have missed.

I can't, Setsuna thought. It's not fair to her.

And then she remembered the glimmer of starlight and far off galaxies she'd seen in Taiki's eyes the night before. How long had it been since she'd met someone whose eyes could draw her like that, send her soaring into the distant reach of the brightly burning stars?

How long since she'd wanted someone's scent on her fingers the way she wanted Taiki's, still, after a whole night together?

What she should be doing right now was saying yes, it was just a one time thing, being kind but detached, letting Taiki down gently, letting her go. Instead, Setsuna found herself giving the absolute last answer she should.

"It doesn't have to be," she said softly, tangling her hand into the long, chestnut strands of Taiki's hair and leaning forward to kiss her again in the morning light.

By seven that evening, there was ice in the wind and snow in the air. Haruka hadn't had a good day and the weather tonight was only making it worse. She was in a distinctly bad mood by the time she discovered yet another network of sea-caves filled with monster eggs, and she could only surmise that the universe hated her when Seiya arrived to check out the same scene about five minutes later.

"More of these things, huh?' she said, shining the small torch attached to her wrist over the fifty or so giant slimy eggs filling up the cave they were currently in. "They just keep multiplying."

"I know," Haruka growled. "I thought Pluto and I had finally destroyed all the adults, so there'd be no more eggs."

Seiya shrugged good-naturedly. "Looks like you missed a few." At Haruka's sharp glance, she quickly held up her hands. "Hey, don't take offense! I didn't mean anything by it."

Haruka regarded Seiya coolly. "What are you doing here anyway? Nothing better to do?"

"Plenty, actually. But these things do give off confusing readings, seeing as how they come from outside your solar system. I thought it might be…That object we're looking for."

"Right."

Seiya and the other two Starlights had only returned to Earth about a month ago, claiming that a powerful seer on their world had sent them to recover some kind of lost artifact. They said they needed it to help their planet, though so far all they'd revealed was that the artifact was something called the Sacred Crystal that had disappeared a long time ago. How something like that could have even ended up on Earth no one knew, and Haruka personally had her doubts it was even here.

In her more suspicious moments, she conjectured some kind of ulterior motive for the Starlights' visit, though she'd yet to come up with any evidence to support that theory other than their caution with information, and even Michiru and Setsuna said she was being paranoid.

The Princess, of course, had gone to welcome the Starlights as soon as they arrived, and Haruka had glowered in the background looking daggers at Seiya who, irritatingly, didn't seem to care.

"Since I'm here," said Seiya, "I can give you hand if you like. There's what…about ten or fifteen caves in this network, and I'm guessing all of them have at least as many eggs as this one."

"Don't feel obliged," said Haruka coldly.

Instead of leaving at Haruka's less than inviting attitude, Seiya just laughed, transformed and went into one of the adjoining caves with a wave of her hand.

"Star Serious Laser!" Haruka heard a moment later, followed by a flash of blue light.

What an irritating person to have to work with. With a long suffering expression, Haruka transformed herself and gathered a World Shaking into her fist and released it, decimating every annoying monster egg in sight before moving onto the next cave.

"By the way, Uranus," Seiya said once they'd finished with the eggs and were retracing their steps to get back outside, "did you know that you have love bites all over your neck?"

Haruka let out an aggravated sigh. "My team-mates at the circuit wouldn't shut up about it all day. I don't need to hear it from you too."

A smile twitched at Seiya's lips. "What happened, did you get attacked by one of your fans?"

"Do you always talk this much?" Haruka grumbled.

"Seriously though. Can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"Well, at the party last night, I was…A little tipsy, but I seem to have this vague recollection of Taiki and Setsuna leaving together. Do you know anything about that?"

Haruka grunted. Seiya snorted.

"Wow. Riveting conversations you must have with Michiru. Fine, whatever, you don't want to tell me and rat your friend out. But Taiki…She's sensitive. She gets hurt easily. I don't know what Setsuna's intentions are but they'd better not be anything less than honourable."

Her blue eyes blazed fiercely in the dark for a moment. Haruka nearly actually respected her.

The tide must have been coming in, since when they reached the mouth of the cave that had previously led onto the beach, the beach wasn't there and freezing seawater swirled up to their calves. Going carefully to keep her footing as the waves sucked at her legs, Haruka squinted out into the night to see how bad a jam they were in.

"The beach isn't that far," she reported back. "I think we can wade. We might have to swim if it gets deep. The bottom is all sand, so we won't have to worry about rocks."

"Swimming at night in winter," Seiya muttered darkly. "Is this your warped idea of fun?"

"Not really, but Neptune would be having fun right now if she was here. Besides, you were the one who wanted to stay."

"Which I now thoroughly regret. Well Uranus." Seiya took a breath and waded out deeper into the icy waters to where Haruka was standing. "Seeing as the sea likes you, I'll let you go first."

Luckily, at its deepest point, the water only came up to Haruka's thighs, though unluckily, they were hit by a particularly big wave at one point which meant both senshi emerged shivering and wet nearly to their chests.

And then the snow that had been threatening started to fall.

Haruka trudged up the beach towards the carpark on the cliff above with her mouth set in a grim line of endurance. Seiya's uniform was even more skimpy than her own, and Haruka could see that every bit of her bare flesh was covered in goosebumps, and even if she was an alien, it probably wasn't good that she was turning blue.

Sourly, she said to the freezing Starlight, "do I need to gallantly offer to let you warm up in my car?"

Her spirit apparently undaunted by her late night dip, Seiya pretended to be shocked. "Uranus, are you making a pass at me? Despite the ah, rather obvious recent attentions of Ms. Love-bites, whoever she is? I'm flattered but shall have to regretfully decline. I already have a hot date lined up for tonight. And I came here in my own car." This last was added almost as an afterthought.

Giving Seiya the filthiest look she could muster, Haruka said shortly, "this hot date – I hope it's not with Usagi. She already has Mamoru."

Seiya laughed. "Honestly Uranus, you're going to give lectures about not flirting with the Princess? But for your information, no, it's not with Usagi." She paused to catch her breath on the steepest part of the cliff path near the top. "What about your plans? Another hot date with Ms. Love-bites?"

"Hardly," said Haruka dryly. "I'll be tracking down the monsters that made all those eggs. Hopefully they're the final two. I don't know why they have to spawn so damn quickly."

Up on top of the cliff, the wind was even stronger and it was whispering to Haruka urgently of enemies nearby. Regretfully, she thought of the thermos of hot coffee waiting for her in her car. It was going to have to wait a little longer.

"Have a fun time with the monsters," Seiya said cheerfully, though her appearance became even more blue and bedraggled as her transformation came undone.

"Fighter."

Seiya's dark hair was dusted with snow and blowing in the wind as she paused inquiringly at her car door and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Thanks for the help tonight."

There was a remote possibility the smile Seiya gave her was actually genuine. Haruka was deeply disturbed.

"No problem. See ya."

The monsters politely waited for Seiya's tail lights to disappear before attacking. Haruka's mood was so foul they didn't last long.

After her not particularly spectacular though none-the-less satisfying victory, Haruka returned home wet, cold and covered in monster gore.

"Rough night?" Setsuna asked sympathetically, looking remarkably clean and warm and comfortable sitting on one of the living room couches with her Garnet Orb before her, detached from its Rod.

"The usual." Haruka shrugged. "I found more of those monster eggs, and another two adults. Hopefully that's really the last of them this time."

"I would have come to help, but…" Setsuna's eyes strayed towards the Orb. "I sensed something strange going on in the timeline tonight. I couldn't figure it out. I still can't. If I'd felt you were in trouble…"

"I wasn't. And I had the dubious pleasure of being assisted by Sailor Star Fighter."

"Ah. Searching for their lost artifact?"

"Yeah. The one that probably doesn't exist."

"We don't know that."

Haruka grimaced as she wiped her cheek and ended up sending a splatter of monster guts onto the floor.

"I know, I know," she said as Setsuna's brows drew together in a disapproving frown. "I'm going to shower right now. But I bet I'm right." She called it as a parting shot from the top of the stairs. "I bet what they're looking for isn't anywhere on this planet."

"So…I'm sorry about before."

Setsuna had exchanged the Orb for her laptop by the time Haruka went downstairs again, feeling deliciously clean and warm from a scaldingly hot shower.

"About dropping monster bits on the floor? Alas, Haruka, I'm used to your uncivilized ways after all this time."

"Not about that. Though thanks for cleaning up the mess, by the way." The red splatter of monster guts had been transformed into a clean, damp spot on the floorboards smelling strongly of disinfectant.

"I meant about the other thing. This morning."

"Oh. Right."

Haruka might have been wrong, but she thought she actually detected a slight blush on Setsuna's olive-tinted cheeks. Her fingers slowed over the keys for a moment before speeding up again.

"It's fine," she said lightly, keeping her gaze deliberately focused on whatever was on the laptop screen.

Sometimes, talking to Setsuna about something she didn't want to discuss could bear an unfortunate resemblance to slogging uphill in a snow storm, as Haruka had done earlier in the night. Michiru was better at getting things out of her usually, more subtle and crafty, but Haruka would have to make do with her own more forthright methods for now.

"I was just surprised, that's all. I've never known you to take an interest in anyone."

"And that means I'm not allowed to start?"

"Of course you can. But…Something's up with you Setsuna. Both Michiru and I have noticed. I wish you'd tell us what it is."

Setsuna gave Haruka a reassuring smile that didn't fool her for a moment.

"There's nothing, Haruka. I'm okay."

Shifting her gaze to the photographs on the wall off to Setsuna's left, Haruka asked, "is it Hotaru? Do you miss her?"

The pictures made up a whole wall of memories, going back over years that seemed to have slid by surprisingly quickly. Many of the photos were framed, others tacked up haphazardly, everything from blurry snapshots taken by Hotaru's young inexpert hands to Michiru's glossy professional portraits.

"I do miss her," Setsuna admitted. "But she's growing up. It's to be expected that she'll start leading more of a life apart from us."

Not long after finishing high school, Hotaru had gone to train in the thirtieth century with a suddenly grown-up Chibiusa, and the way things were going there was certainly a bit of a surprise, but then, Haruka reminded herself wryly, a weakness for princesses was something of a family trait.

"I hope Chibiusa doesn't end up breaking her heart."

"Even if she does, all that we can do is be there for Hotaru. You can't protect her from life, Haruka. It would be wrong to try."

"I know. I just worry about her. She's so far away. Not just in another city or another country, but in another time."

"Haruka. Hotaru knows you're here. She knows she can come back whenever she needs to. She'll be fine."

There was something slightly off about that statement, but tiredness was setting in and Haruka couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"The timeline?" she inquired. "Did you figure out the cause of the disturbance?"

Looking irritated, Setsuna shook her head. "It seems to have disappeared for now. I'll just have to keep an eye on things."

"And Taiki." Haruka managed to catch Setsuna's eye. "Are you planning to see her again?"

Setsuna attempted unsuccessfully to seem like she wasn't trying to be evasive. "I might do. I hope that won't be a problem."

"Only if you want to keep it a secret. Seiya already knows something is going on, and if she noticed it won't be long before the others do."

"That's not really an answer, Haruka."

Haruka suddenly found the tables turned so that she was the one on the end of an unnervingly insightful garnet gaze. Her shoulders tensed.

"Given our mission as guardians who protect this planet from outside invaders, I think she's an odd choice. But not necessarily a bad one, I suppose. Unless the Starlights do turn out to be enemies. Or unless this means I have to see even more of their ratty-haired leader than I already do.

"I'm not dating all three of them," Setsuna said with a roll of her eyes.

"Ha!" Haruka let out a shout of triumph. "You said 'date'! You are seeing her!"

"Honestly, Haruka." Setsuna got to her feet muttering something about warming up the dinner she'd made for them earlier. Her cheeks definitely were red this time.

Secretly, Haruka smirked to herself. Michiru was never going to believe this.

It wasn't until much later, after she'd gone to bed, that Haruka realised what had bothered her before about Setsuna's comment. She'd said Hotaru knows you're here, rather than Hotaru knows we're here. As if, Haruka thought uneasily, Setsuna had some kind of plans not to be here in the near future.

But then why start this thing with Taiki, if she was planning on going somewhere?

Something was definitely not right, and lately there'd been even more shadows than usual in Setsuna's eyes.